Google's Sergey Brin has said that he funded a Dutch university's project to craft the world's first lab-grown burger.

The slab of synthetic meat, seen above, was grown using cells from a cow's shoulder, which were grown into strips of meat, which in turn were mushed into a patty that required the killing of precisely zero cows.

That humane angle is apparently what intrigued Google co-founder Brin, who appeared in a video posted on The Guardian to say, "We have a vision in our minds of pristine farms, couple of cows, couple of chickens, but that's not actually how meat gets produced today."

"When you see how these cows are treated, it's certainly something I'm not comfortable with."

The project apparently cost a whopping €250,000, but could offer a glimpse at the future of food production. The meat is biologically identical to regular cow flesh, but is produced in laboratory conditions instead of on a farm. On a larger scale, the synthetic food could reduce the environmental impact of meat production.

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Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
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